nickel on the table by Anthony Liccione

suicide sound 
sickly good
about now,
but what stops is,
what fears me most is,
stepping through
the doors of death to
unknown dimensions
or frantic demons,

and that boy
always home
on the dot, always
eager to show me
the good grades
he got in class,
not realizing 
there’s nothing 
left to see in me,

but I smile my best
and tell him 
good job my son,

looking at the nickel
he found yesterday
on the way home
and gave me,
I put the gun
down and pour milk
over my fruit loops,
sit and watch 
how they expand
and turn soggy
in the bowl,
floating there atop
as bright lifejackets
on a white ocean,
rotating and drifting,
but going nowhere. 

Anthony Liccione resides in Texas with his wife and serves in the National Guard. He stopped writing poetry 12 years ago, but has been slowly drawing back into it. His latest book Symmetry was published by Shook Up Press in 2012.